[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 126 (Tuesday, June 30, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39098-39099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-13573]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

11 CFR Part 113

[NOTICE 2020-05]


Rulemaking Petition: Transfers From Candidate's Authorized 
Committee

AGENCY: Federal Election Commission.

ACTION: Rulemaking Petition: Notification of availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: On April 8, 2020, the Federal Election Commission received a 
Petition for Rulemaking asking the Commission to amend its regulations 
to limit the amount that the authorized committee of a federal 
candidate may transfer to a national political party committee. The 
Petition proposes to limit these transfers so that a self-funded 
candidate cannot transfer funds derived from the candidate's personal 
funds to a national political party committee if the transferred funds 
would exceed the annual limit on an individual's contributions to a 
national party committee. The Commission seeks comment on the Petition.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before August 31, 2020.

ADDRESSES: All comments must be in writing. Commenters may submit 
comments electronically via the Commission's website at http://sers.fec.gov/fosers/, reference REG 2020-02.
    Each commenter must provide, at a minimum, his or her first name, 
last name, city, and state. All properly submitted comments, including 
attachments, will become part of the public record, and the Commission 
will make comments available for public viewing on the Commission's 
website. Accordingly, commenters should not provide in their comments 
any information that they do not wish to make public, such as a home 
street address, personal email address, date of birth, phone number, 
social security number, or driver's license number, or any information 
that is restricted from disclosure, such as trade secrets or commercial 
or financial information that is privileged or confidential.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Knop, Assistant General 
Counsel, or Ms. Heather Filemyr, Attorney, Office of the General 
Counsel, at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 8, 2020, the Commission received a 
Petition for Rulemaking from Citizens United and Citizens United 
Foundation (``Petition''). The Petition asks the Commission to amend 11 
CFR 113.2(c) ``to limit the amounts that an authorized committee of a 
federal candidate may transfer to a committee of a national political 
party in order to prevent a self-funded candidate from transferring 
campaign funds derived from his or her personal funds in amounts that 
exceed the annual limits imposed on an

[[Page 39099]]

individual's contributions to a national party committee.'' Petition at 
1.
    The Petition involves several statutory and regulatory provisions. 
The Federal Election Campaign Act, 52 U.S.C. 30101-45 (``FECA''), 
provides that a ``contribution accepted by a candidate, and any other 
donation received by an individual as support for activities of the 
individual as a holder of Federal office, may be used by the candidate 
or individual . . . for transfers, without limitation, to a national, 
State, or local committee of a political party.'' 52 U.S.C. 
30114(a)(4). Similarly, Commission regulations state: ``funds in a 
campaign account . . . [m]ay be transferred without limitation to any 
national, State, or local committee of any political party.'' 11 CFR 
113.2(c). In addition, generally ``candidates for Federal office may 
make unlimited expenditures from personal funds'' and so may contribute 
unlimited amounts from personal funds to their authorized 
committees.\1\ 11 CFR 110.10.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Certain limitations apply to presidential candidates 
receiving funds from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund or the 
Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account. See 11 CFR 110.10.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Petition asserts that in March 2020 ``a major loophole came to 
light'' in how unlimited transfers from candidates' authorized 
committees to party committees interact with the allowance for 
candidates to contribute unlimited personal funds to their campaigns. 
Petition at 2. Citing a news report, the Petition states that Michael 
Bloomberg, recently a candidate for president, transferred 18 million 
dollars from his authorized committee to the Democratic National 
Committee (``DNC'') at the conclusion of his campaign and that the 
transferred funds ``derived from the candidate's personal funds, which 
are not subject to any contribution limits.'' Id. The Petition further 
states that the reported 18 million dollar transfer from Mr. 
Bloomberg's campaign account ``is more than 500 times greater than the 
amount that he could directly contribute to the DNC.'' Id. at 3. 
Further, the Petition claims that under the Commission's current 
regulations, ``[w]ealthy individuals could: declare their candidacy for 
any federal elected office; contribute untold millions of dollars of 
his or her own money to the campaign; promptly withdraw his or her 
candidacy after spending a token sum; and thereafter transfer the 
balance of the campaign's funds to the national party committee of his 
or her choice.'' Id. According to the Petition, ``[t]his is clearly not 
what was intended when Congress authorized the transfer surplus 
campaign funds to national party committees.'' Id. To address this 
possibility, the Petition proposes that the Commission revise 11 CFR 
113.2(c) to ``limit the amount that a campaign committee can transfer 
to a national political party committee to the sum total of 
contributions received by the committee that'' are subject to FECA's 
amount limitations ``on contributions by individuals, multi-candidate 
PACs and party committees.'' Id.
    The Commission seeks comment on the Petition. The public may 
inspect the Petition on the Commission's website at http://sers.fec.gov/fosers/.
    The Commission will not consider the Petition's merits until after 
the comment period closes. If the Commission decides that the Petition 
has merit, it may begin a rulemaking proceeding. The Commission will 
announce any action that it takes in the Federal Register.

    Dated: June 18, 2020.

    On behalf of the Commission,
Steven T. Walther,
Vice Chairman, Federal Election Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-13573 Filed 6-29-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6715-01-P